Summary
Most cells in the striate cortex respond to visual stimulation through either eye. We have examined quantitatively the matching of response specificity for the two eyes. Our intention was to determine the degree to which this matching depends on ocular dominance. We used standard single cell recording techniques and studied responses to sinusoidal gratings of different spatial frequencies, orientations, and contrasts. For all tests, stimuli were randomly interleaved both with respect to the value of each parameter, and the eye which was stimulated. After estimating ocular dominance qualitatively and quantitatively, we measured: response modulation (to help identify whether a cell was simple or complex), orientation and spatial frequency tuning, and contrast response functions (to estimate contrast thresholds). Results show that: (1) Response modulation is well matched between the two eyes, but there is a slight tendency for the dominant eye to respond with less modulation. (2) Optimal orientation and spatial frequency and their respective tuning widths were similar for the two eyes. In general, tuning functions for the two eyes differed mainly in slope. However, in each case, there was a tendency for the dominant eye to have broader tuning widths. (3) In most cases, contrast response functions for the two eyes differed mainly in their slopes. Extrapolation to spontaneous levels suggests that estimated contrast thresholds are relatively independent of ocular dominance although, again, there was a tendency for the dominant eye to exhibit slightly lower estimated thresholds. These findings demonstrate that response characteristics between the two eyes are generally well matched regardless of relative response strength. There are, however, small but clear differences between the two eyes for all parameters we measured which are related to and demonstrate that ocular dominance influences the degree of matching between the two eyes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albrecht D, Hamilton D (1982) Striate cortex of monkey and cat: contrast response function. J Neurophysiol 48: 217–237
Albus K (1975) Predominance of monocularly driven cells in the projection area of the central visual field in cat's striate cortex. Brain Res 89: 341–347
Bishop PO (1978) Orientation and position disparities in stereopsis. In: Cool SJ, Smith EL (eds) Frontiers in visual science. Springer, New York Heidelberg Berlin, pp 336–350
Bishop PO, Kozak W, Vakkur J (1962) Some quantitative aspects of the cat's eye: Axis and plane of reference, visual field coordination and optics. J Physiol (Lond) 163: 466–502
Blakemore C, Fiorentini A, Maffei L (1972) A second neural mechanism of binocular depth discrimination. J Physiol (Lond) 226: 725–749
Braddick OJ (1979) Binocular single vision and binocular processing. Proc R Soc (Lond) 204: 503–512
Campbell FW, Cleland BG, Cooper GF, Enroth-Cugell C (1968) The angular selectivity of visual cortical cells to moving gratings. J Physiol (Lond) 198: 237–250
Dean A, Tolhurst D (1983) On the distinctness of simple and complex cells in the visual system of the cat. J Physiol (Lond) 344: 305–325
DeValois RL, Albrecht DG, Thorell LG (1982) Spatial frequency selectivity of cells in macaque visual cortex. Vision Res 22: 545–559
Ferster D (1981) A comparison of binocular depth mechanisms in areas 17 and 18 of the cat visual cortex. J Physiol (Lond) 311: 623–655
Freeman RD, Mallach R, Hartley S (1981) Responsivity of normal kitten striate cortex deteriorates after brief binocular deprivation. J Neurophysiol 45: 1074–1084
Heggelund P, Albus K (1978a) Response variability and orientation discrimination of single cells in striate cortex of cat. Exp Brain Res 32: 197–211
Heggelund P, Albus K (1978b) Orientation selectivity of single cells in striate cortex of cat: The shape of orientation tuning curves. Vision Res 18: 1067–1071
Henry GH, Bishop PO, Tupper RM (1973) Orientation specificity and response variability of cells in the striate cortex. Vision Res 13: 1771–1779
Henry HG, Dreher B, Bishop PO (1974) Orientation specificity of cells in cat striate cortex. J Neurophysiol 37: 1394–1409
Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1962) Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. J Physiol (Lond) 160: 106–154
Julesz B, Miller JE (1975) Independent spatial-frequency-tuned channels in binocular fusion and rivalry. Perception 4: 125–143
Levick WR (1972) Another tungsten microelectrode. Med Biol Eng 10: 510–515
Macy A, Ohzawa I, Freeman RD (1982) A quantitative study of the classification and stability of ocular dominance in the cat's visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 48: 401–408
Mayhew JEW, Frisby JP (1976) Rivalrous texture stereograms. Nature 264: 53–56
Movshon JA, Thompson ID, Tolhurst DJ (1978) Spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity of neurones in areas 17 and 18 of the cat's visual cortex. J Physiol (Lond) 283: 101–120
Nelson JI, Kato H, Bishop PO (1977) Discrimination of orientation and position disparities by binocularly activated neurons in cat striate cortex. J Neurophysiol 40: 260–283
Ohzawa I, Sclar G, Freeman RD (1982) Contrast gain control in the cat visual cortex. Nature 298: 266–268
Poggio GF, Fisher B (1977) Binocular interaction and depth sensitivity in strate and prestriate cortex of behaving rhesus monkey. J Neurophysiol 40: 1392–1405
Rose D, Blakemore C (1974) An analysis of orientation selectivity in the cat's visual cortex. Exp Brain Res 20: 1–17
Sanderson KJ, Darian-Smith I, Bishop PO (1969) Binocular corresponding receptive fields of single units in the cat dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. Vision Res 9: 1297–1303
Schiller PH, Finlay BL, Volman SF (1976) Quantitative studies of single-cell properties in monkey striate cortex. II. Orientation specificity and ocular dominance. J Neurophysiol 39: 1320–1333
Sclar G, Freeman RD (1982) Orientation selectivity in the cat's striate cortex is invariant with stimulus contrast. Exp Brain Res 46: 457–461
Singer W (1970) Inhibitory binocular interaction in the lateral geniculate body of the cat. Brain Res 18: 165–170
Shatz CJ, Stryker MP (1978) Ocular dominance in layer IV of the cat's visual cortex and the effect of monocular deprivation. J Physiol (Lond) 281: 267–283
Tolhurst DJ, Thompson ID (1981) On the variety of spatial selectiveness shown by neurons in the area 17 of the cat. Proc R Soc (Lond) B 213: 183–199
Watkins DW, Berkeley MA (1974) The orientation selectivity of single neurons in cat striate cortex. Exp Brain Res 19: 433–446
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Skottun, B.C., Freeman, R.D. Stimulus specificity of binocular cells in the cat's visual cortex: ocular dominance and the matching of left and right eyes. Exp Brain Res 56, 206–216 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236275
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00236275